Wolf Tamer is a new one woman play about fear, grief, mental illness and love. It is written and performed by Rachel Mae Brady. Simon Newton will be chairing a discussion about the issues raised in the play with representatives of Ark T Arts Centre and Tandem Befriending as well as Rachel Mae Brady herself. We are very proud that Rachel has chosen Restore as one of the partners in her production of her new play. Not surprisingly, the show is sold out.

Restore is delighted to be joining The People’s Fair this year! More than a thousand people united last year and we’re looking forward to welcoming even more people at Florence Park on Sunday 8 July from 11am to 5pm.

Returning for a second year, The People’s Fair celebrates the diversity of Oxfordshire society and aims to bring people from all backgrounds and ages together. There has never been a greater need to strengthen ties between all of us.

The People’s Fair is a community event with a fresh barbeque, children’s rides, pony trails, bouncy castle, football and sports tournaments, live music, face painting, Henna, and stalls.

Restore is thrilled that The People’s Fair will be raising money for Restore’s much-needed recovery services and promoting awareness of mental health in the city.

Recent figures show a blanket increase in severe mental health issues across the county, with Oxford City ‘well above the average’ of all other districts. The figures were published in the Oxfordshire Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2018, an annual report by Oxfordshire County Council.

It showed the number of people diagnosed with depression in Oxfordshire increased by 7,100 between 2016/17 and 2015/16 – an increase of 14 per cent.

Depression is now the second highest diagnosis for patients across Oxfordshire, with the total of 56,800 trumped only by cases of high blood pressure.

All six districts within the NHS Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group recorded an increase in patients who had been diagnosed with a ‘severe and enduring’ mental health problem. This was most apparent in the Oxford City district, where 1.1 per cent of all GP patients were recorded as having severe and enduring mental health issues, compared to a high of 0.8 per cent elsewhere in the county.

Lesley Dewhurst, Joint Chief Executive of Restore, said: “With more people seeking our help, Restore is working twice as hard to provide care. We offer people seeking mental health support the chance to recover and build up confidence in our recovery groups in Oxford, Banbury, and Didcot. We’re delighted to be working closely with The People’s Fair and further embedding ourselves in East Oxford, a community we’ve belonged to for the last forty years.”

Restore was awarded a top charity accolade at the 2018 Oxfordshire Business Awards for our work in the community. More than 400 entrepreneurs from around the county used an app on their smartphones to pick the winner of The Oxford Times Charity and Community Award at the Oxfordshire Business Awards.

More details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/476250686132283/

Our sister organisation, Bridewell Organic Gardens, is  holding a community afternoon, welcoming the public to their  walled garden and vineyard.

Take the opportunity to see this beautiful place and to buy their produce; eggs, fruit, vegetables, jams, jellies and chutneys. Lots of plants are for sale, lovingly nurtured in our greenhouses. You can also join a free guided tour of the gardens, given by Ian Gourlay who has been a team member at Bridewell for many years so can give a wonderful history of the project and how we work.

And it seems that no one can resist our famous teas; tables are set up in the garden for you to enjoy homemade sponges, chocolate cakes, fruit slices and of course scones with cream and Bridewell jam.

It will be an idyllic afternoon in beautiful surroundings. Don’t miss it!

Restore are delighted to announce the date for our 2018 Elder Stubs Festival! Our jam-packed, family-friendly summer festival returns to Elder Stubbs Allotment on Saturday 18 August from 12noon to 6pm.
Restore is led by its members—the people recovering from mental ill health in our six recovery groups across Oxfordshire. Every year our Elder Stubbs recovery group’s members choose the theme of the Festival, and this year they have opted for the Rainforest!
We’ll be celebrating all things environmental with children dressing up as colourful rainforest animals in a fancy dress parade, stall holders from a range of causes, and a Rainforest Café!
We’re excited to bring you rides, food, and live music across two stages, plus the Story Museum’s pumpkin tent. RSVP now to join Oxford’s new Lord Mayor and thousands of visitors at the Festival, all helping to raise awareness of mental health and enjoy a great day out.

Every penny raised by the family day will help Restore to promote mental wellbeing and offer recovery support. Celebrating our fortieth birthday this year, Restore has an ambitious target to fund a whole year of extra mental health recovery. We want to raise the salary costs of an extra mental health recovery worker to offer tailored support to more people in Oxford, and our total target is £25,600.

Do you want to book a stall at the Festival? Do you want to perform at the Festival? If so, please email tom.hayes@restore.org.uk right now!

Entry is £3, concessions are £2, and under-12s enter for free.
Similarly, we’re fundraising to meet the costs of putting on the Festival. If you can spare any money to support, please do click here or donate £5 by texting ELST18 £5 to 70070.

Restore and The People’s Fair are hosting an Eid al-Adha Celebration in Manzil Way on Thursday 23 August!

This family-friendly community event will have live music and a food court with Fresh BBQ and Halal Food.

We’ll also have face painting and Henna, and Restore’s large, beautiful gardens to relax in!

We’d love to see you here! Please do invite all your friends and family to join this community event

Our supporter and good friend, Laura Northover has decided to host a 40th birthday extravaganza to celebrate her birthday and to support our work.

Here is why she is doing it.  Thank you Laura, your support means a lot to us.

“I’m hosting a one day charity music festival at the Brewery Tap in Abingdon to raise money and awareness for our locally based mental health charity, Restore.

The initial idea for this event was to celebrate my 40th birthday surrounded by things I’m passionate about.

As I began making plans, I realised quite quickly that this would be the perfect opportunity to raise money and awareness for a local charity.

The decision to support Restore was based on a number of reasons, most importantly I have seen for myself the positive effect their work can achieve.

So why a music festival?

I have always been extremely passionate about music, particularly live music and for me it’s one of the best feelings in the world. Ever since my first gig at the age of 14, nothing makes me happier than planning a diary full of gigs/festivals.

I wanted my 40^th birthday to be a combination of my passion for music and something which could involve the local community for a day of fun & celebrating.

It made perfect sense to me to plan a music festival in a local venue which has a strong community atmosphere, one of which I have been part of for the last 10 years.

Supporting Restore means a lot to me, the recovery groups, the support and coaching they offer can be life changing for so many people. It gives me great pleasure to celebrate my 40^th birthday alongside this incredible charity, who are also celebrating their 40^th year.”

Laura’s been planning this for months and we’re really looking forward to supporting this event in our community. Come along and make it an extra special birthday for Laura.